Mrs. Latimer's and Mrs. Black's Class

Welcome Back To School!

  Top 5 A.R. Point Earners for the second nine weeks

1.  Molly           36.2

2.  Isabella       22.6

3.  Caroline     18.8

4.  Shelton      17.6

5.  Lauren       17.5

This time the winners will receive a choice between a candy bar and a homework pass.  Congratulations!

The next A.R. requirement is to earn 7 new points.  Start reading now. 

The A.R. movie for all second graders reaching the 6 point goal will be Tuesday morning.  Everyone will enjoy juice and donuts as well.

  Current Essential Questions:

Science:  What are stars?

Math:  What is a solid shape?

Reading:  What does it mean to be an independent reader?

Writing:  How do I write persuasively?

Social Studies:  What contributions did MLK and Jackie Robinson make in Georgia's history?

Happy New Year!!

  Happy New Year!!!

Mrs. Black and I want to thank the class for our wonderful presents.  We both love our Macy gift cards and appreciate the thoughtful gift.  Shopping is one of our most favorite things to do.  Enjoy the rest of the break and we will see you on Tuesday, January 6, 2009.

  Our class party is at 11:30 tomorrow, December 18, 2008.  Thank you to all of the parents volunteering and sending in supplies to make this a fun time for everyone.

Winter Break:  December 20-January 6.  No School!!

  Several students did not turn in their fire safety homework today.  Our next lesson will be tomorrow.  Please make sure all fire safety worksheets are turned in Tuesday.  The books are due on Thursday.

This week's project is to create a ticket to ride the Polar Express.  All tickets are due on Friday morning.  The directions were sent home today.  Please encourage your child to use his/her creativity when making the ticket. 

Mark your calendars:

Field Day Rain Day Change:
May 13 is now 3-5
May 14 is now K-2

Garrison Mill is trying to line the halls with non-perishable food for the Must Ministries food bank.  Any and all donations are greatly appreciated.  I told the class that if we could fill the space between Mrs. Sanders's room and our room that I would give everyone a free night of homework.  Thank you in advance.

We read The Polar Expresstoday.  Everyone completed an activity telling about their favorite parts.  Tomorrow we will do an Exemplars related to this story as well as a characterization activity and writing prompt.  We are still in need of Styrofoam cups for Friday's celebration.  Please let us know if you are able to send in 2 dozen.  Thank you in advance.

Thank you to Mrs. Daniels, Mrs. Druckenmiller, Mrs. Dunn, & Mrs. Harper for making our delicious banana splits today!  Thank you to everyone who donated the wonderful supplies needed to make these special treats.  In January we will continue with banana split tests on Friday.  If your child did not complete the addition tests those will need to be completed before moving on to subtraction.  For those students who have almost completed the subtraction tests, multiplication will be next.  For every multiplication test passed your child will earn a scoop of sprinkles.

Don't forget all A.R. points are due this Friday by the end of the day.  Our reading celebration will take place on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 for anyone earning all 6 points.  The TOP 5 readers will also earn an additional prize.

Don't forget to bring in up to 5 books to swap for new ones on Friday.  This is an optional activity that will give your child new reading material for over the break.  Happy hunting!  

Social Studies: Today we started learning about Mary Musgrove.  Her Creek name was Coosaponakeesa.  She was instrumental in the English and Creek getting along and communicating.  We practiced saying her name throughout the afternoon.  I told the class I would put her name on th blog without the pronunciation key to see if you, the parents could figure it out.  :)  The class thought this was a wonderful idea!  Good luck!!

Math:  We gave summative assessments on time and place value to the hundreds place today.  Please continue to work on these skills with your child.  The next chapter will be on solid figures.

Spelling:  There are no new Sitton words this week.  Take this opportunity to review missed words from previous weeks.  The next new unit will be when we return from winter break.

Letter Home Journal:  We will be writing Jan Brett this Thursday instead of parents.  Letter Home Journal will return on January 8, 2009.

Mrs. Coffelt's last day will be this Friday.

December News!

  Polar Express permission slips are due tomorrow.  Thank you to everyone volunteering to send in supplies.  We appreciate your generosity!

 Just a reminder that the banana split celebration will be Monday at 11:15.  There will be one more class test on Friday morning.  However, your child can take a test any morning before school or during recess.  Please encourage your child to take all  needed tests before Monday.  Once all ten addition tetss are passed your child will start subtraction.  The pattern stays the same.

0-1  bowl

2     napkin

3     spoon

4     banana

5-7  ice cream

8     topping

9     whip cream

10    cherry

Look for the orange paper attached to the packet of graded papers going home on Thursday.  This contains the information needed to access online CRCT practice.  Please, please practice at home. 

   We will start a unit on fire safety tomorrow.  This unit will be taught by Cobb County firefighters.

 

  We need a volunteer to scan morning work.  We are hoping to send it home with a student over winter break.  If you are willing and able please let us know this week so we can get everything put together.  Thank you in advance!

Math:  We will continue to learn about time and geometry (solid shapes).  Just a reminder that there will be a banana split timed test every day this week to be ready for Monday's celebration.  Don't forget to practice those facts.

Social Studies: We will be learning about James Oglethorpe this week.  By the end of the week your child should be able to tell you why he is an important part of Georgia's history.

Geometry Vocabulary

We are currently working on a geometry unit that includes several new vocabulary terms.  These terms will show up on homework, classwork, and assessments.  We thought it would be helpful to have this information in order to discuss these new words and their meanings with your child. 

plane shapes: geometric shapes that have no thickness, they lie in one plane, flat shapes

square:  a rectangle with all 4 sides of equal length 

rectangle:   a closed plane shape with 4 sides and 4 square corners

triangle:  a closed plane shape with 3 sides and 3 angles

hexagon:  a closed plane shape with 6 sides and 6 angles

trapezoid:  a 4 sided plane shape with 2 sides parallel and 2 sides not parallel

pentagon:  a 5 sided plane shape

parallelogram:  a 4 sided plane shape, the opposite sides of the parallelogram are parallel and equal in length

side:  the straight part of a shape

angle:  the place where two or more edges meet

square corner:  a corner that forms a right angle

vertex / vertices:  the place where two or more edges meet

quadrilateral:  a 4 sided plane shape

right angle:  a special angle that forms a square

acute angle:  an angle that is less than a right angle

obtuse angle:  an angle that is greater than a right angle

Ask your child about the angles we made today.  We also tried to find as many right angles in the classroom as we could.  We were impressed by the amount found!  The extra credit homework this weekendd has to do with comparing angles.  I hope everyone will do it! 

 

December Updates!

  Top 5 Accelerated Reader Point Earners:

1.  Molly                                        35.2

2.  Isabella                                   21.0

3.  Caroline                                   17.3

4.  Lauren & Kristopher               14.6

5.  Shelton                                    13.7

Just a reminder that this grading period's 6 A.R. points are due on December 19th.  The second grade A.R. celebration will be on Tuesday morning, January 6th at 8:30 for everyone who has their points.  Pajamas are welcome!

 Next week we will have the five minute banana split timed test every morning as December 15th is the celebration.  This will give everyone who hasn't completed all ten tests a few extra chances.  Tests can also be taken during recess.  I hope everyone will earn all 10 parts of the banana split.  Thank you again to all of our volunteers helping to make the banana splits and to everyone donating the delicious ingredients!  If anyone has an ice cream scoop we can borrow we would greatly appreciate it.  We will need three.

Look for Polar Express permission slips to go home in Thursday's folder.  They are due by December 12th.  We will begin this unit on Monday, December 15thand end it on December 19th after watching the movie with our book buddies.  At the bottom of the permission slip is a list of supplies we will need for our culminating activity, if you are willing and able to donate any of these items we would greatly appreciate it.  Thank you in advance!

  Math:  We are working on time as well as plane shapes and angles.  See if your child can tell you what a plane shape is as well as the amount of sides on the different kinds of shapes.  Ask your child to find the three different types of angles around your house or as you are out and about.

We will be studying famous people from Georgia's history over the next few weeks.  This week we have been reading about Tomochichi.  Ask your child what he/she has learned.

We will be having a voluntary book exchange on December 19th.  Your child can exchange up to 5 gently used books.

Reading:  This week we've read The Mitten andThe Hat.  We retold The Mitten using props.  We made connections to The Hat.  We talked about the three different types of connections that can be made, text to text, text to self, and text to world.  We also summarized the connections we made.  We are really enjoying Jan Brett's books.

  A BIG thank you to Rachel H.  for the two books she donated to our classroom.  We look forward to reading them to the class soon.  We know everyone will enjoy them!

  We wanted to wish everyone a wonderful and restful week off.  There is no school next week.  Happy Thanksgiving!

AN IMPORTANT SURVEY

Please participate in the 2008 Speak Up Survey

Speak Up is an annual national research project, facilitated by Project Tomorrow, which collects stakeholder views about key educational topics. Since inception, the project has collected the viewpoints of over 1.2 million K-12 students, teachers and parents from all 50 states, and around the world.

Survey results are shared with participating school communities including parents, students, and school/district staff for use in planning and community discussions. In addition, the findings are used by local, state, and national organizations, government agencies, and the business community to inform new programs and polices.

Our district has committed to having at least 10% of our students and teachers take the online survey. Because we will have access to our aggregated school and district data, this is a great opportunity for students, teachers, and parents to join in a local and national dialog about significant and timely issues impacting education today.

* The secret word for schools in our district is: techplan

* The Speak Up dates are October 27 - December 19, 2008.

* Students, teachers, and parents can use our secret word to access the surveys at

http://www.cobbk12.org/instructionaltechnology/speakup/speakup_survey.asp

. (Parents can take the survey without the secret word.)

* Visit the Speak Up How-to guide (

http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speak_up_faq.html

) for ideas on how to promote the Speak Up event at your school. You can print out a flyer to post at your school or use our email text to send reminders to your teachers.
Thank you and we look forward to your participation.